Tips to Living Your Best Life on the Gulf Coast

There are many ways we can improve our health as our bodies change over the years. However, these changes can often seem overwhelming when we don’t know how to adapt. Thankfully, there are easy steps you can take to feel better at any stage of life.

Supplement Your Diet

No matter how well you eat or how much you work out, incorporating supplements and vitamins into your diet can be beneficial. First, start with a probiotic to keep your gut healthy, particularly after taking an antibiotic. Next, consider a multivitamin that contains some of health’s biggest players: folate for reducing inflammation, iron to improve energy, zinc to bolster the immune system, calcium to protect bone density, and vitamin D to absorb it. A good multivitamin not only aids digestion and balances diet, but it improves skin and increases energy levels as well.

Improve Your Metabolism

One key factor in maintaining a healthy weight is supporting your metabolism. To give yourself a boost, eat regularly and get the recommended number of calories, which may be higher than you think. In fact, women, depending on weight, need 1,600 to 2,400 a day, while men require about 2,000 to 3,000. Unfortunately, if we don’t eat enough or at normal intervals, our metabolisms could plummet. As we age, we may need to take additional steps to keep it boosted, such as eating more protein and working out muscles every day.

Keep Learning

An often-overlooked aspect of health is our minds. So, to keep your most important organ healthy, try to learn new things on a regular basis. By doing so, you prevent memory centers from diminishing, boost your ability to concentrate, and stabilize mood, as well as reduce inflammation and plaque buildup in the brain itself. For example, why not pick up a second (or third or fourth) language? You might even protect yourself against Alzheimer’s when you do! Luckily, there are plenty of apps and websites you could use to start your journey for free. Then, try watching television in your chosen dialect, and meeting up with groups who are native speakers. Using a language and thinking in it are the best ways to learn, after all.

Enjoy Music

Staying healthy isn’t all about routines and hard work. Indeed, much of it can be creative and fun, such as listening to music. Better still, music can help us when we find ourselves anxious or in stressful situations. When you hear a song you love, your brain releases dopamine, one of the chemicals that keeps us feeling happy. For instance, listening to a song that is slow-tempo can relax our bodies and put us in a better place emotionally. Overall, music has many potential benefits and may improve cognition, lower chronic pain, and hone our memories. So, spend a few minutes each day with your feet up and your favorite tunes on.

Get Enough Sun

It’s often said that you need to avoid the sun to protect your skin, but that doesn’t mean you should get no exposure at all. When you get around 15 minutes a day, you increase your serotonin levels, improving your mood and decreasing your risk of depression. Moreover, sun exposure may strengthen bones, help us lose weight, and leave us sleeping better at night. However, you still need to take the precaution of using sunscreen to stay safe and protect your skin. A good sunscreen requires 20 minutes to take effect, so getting out in the sun immediately afterward can give you the benefits of sunshine without burning.

When we take care of ourselves, we feel better — it’s that simple. By practicing these healthy routines, we can not only boost our energy and wellness but increase our enjoyment of life, too.

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